VantagePoint Is User-Friendly
Once you order VantagePoint, you’ll have it up and running quickly! Knowledge of intermarket analysis or neural networks is not required – VantagePoint takes care of all of this for you. Of course, basic knowledge of the markets will help you get upto speed much quicker, but each evening you simply need to download end-of-day data from one of the data vendors compatible with VantagePoint (less than a minute or two on high-speed internet) and select a market you want to analyze. Intuitively, you know that other markets influence the market you want to trade.
VantagePoint uses neural network technology to analyze the data to find the twenty-five related markets that most affect prices of your target market, quantifies the degree of influence these related markets have on your market and then uses that information to forecast trend direction, market strength and daily trading ranges in a simple-to-read chart and report. You have a complete forecast for the market you are trading in less than 5 minutes!
VantagePoint can be used in many different ways. Remember, VantagePoint is a powerful and highly versatile analytical trading tool but not a “trading system”. Once you learn about VantagePoint’s predictive indicators, you can determine which of the indicators (or which combination of indicators) work best for you to achieve your goals. Factors such as the markets you are trading – equities, futures, forex, exchange-traded funds – account size, risk propensity, experience in the markets will determine which indicators work best for you, whether you use VantagePoint to augment an existing strategy or as a standalone tool. Some traders simply rely on the predicted moving average crossovers, but many of the more successful VantagePoint users have developed VantagePoint trading strategies that incorporate many of the other predictive indicators. This does require some work on the part of the trader, but the time is usually well worth it!
Forecasted Moving Averages Can Give You Very Valuable Information
VantagePoint’s forecasted moving averages focus on short-term periods. Just like weather forecasts, they can be highly accurate and reliable for the next few days, but it is very difficult to predict prices or the weather a month or a year in the future. When VantagePoint’s predicted moving averages are greater than today’s actual moving averages, the market is expected to move higher over the next 1-3 days, depending on the time frame for the averages. Similarly, when the forecasted moving averages are less than today’s actual moving average, the market is expected to move lower.
The difference between the two moving averages from day to day indicates the relative strength of the expected move over that time frame. For example, when the difference reaches a maximum negative value and starts to narrow (indicating that the downward trend is beginning to lose strength), this is an early warning that the market is likely to make a bottom and turn up soon. When the forecasted moving average does, in fact, cross from below to above the actual moving average, the difference between them goes from negative to positive, confirming that the market is expected to make a bottom and reverse direction, moving higher.
In addition to the predicted moving averages, VantagePoint also provides you with several other predictive technical indicators using intermarket data and not actual past price data that lags current market action. Once you have VantagePoint, you can determine which predictive indicators suit your trading style best. Some traders use all of them, other traders use various combinations of them. All of the indicators have value, and it’s a matter of determining which ones are most valuable to you and your trading.
The Predicted Neural Index is another VERY important VantagePoint Indicator
The Predicted Neural Index, which can be plotted at the bottom of the chart, is also used to identify trend changes in markets and is the specific indicator on which VantagePoint’s accuracy statistics are based. The Neural Index compares today’s actual three-day moving average with today’s predicted three-day moving average to predict whether a three-day simple moving average of the typical price – the average of the high, low and close – will be higher or lower two days in the future than it is today. The numerical value of the Neural Index is either 1.00 or 0.00 so it is either correct or not in indicating whether the trend direction is expected to be higher or lower for each target market over the next two days.
A Neural Index of 1.00 indicates that the trend direction is expected to be higher over the next two days. A Neural Index of 0.00 indicates that the trend direction is expected to be lower over the next two days. Many VantagePoint customers look at the trend direction indicated by the predicted moving averages and then see if the Neural Index confirms and agrees with the indicated direction. As customers become more familiar with using VantagePoint, they may look at other predictive indicators that VantagePoint offers to further develop their trading strategies.